I had pepboys do some work back in october of last year (trans flush/echange, throttle body cleaning, oil change) and upon getting my car back it was shutting off when stopping. That had been fixed by another mechanic about 3 weeks later finally. Well, upon getting it back, I noticed that the truck seems to have lost horsepower. When stepping down on the gas, it doesn't quite have that snap boots in speed that it had before all of this. Also, when turning the steering wheel, the idle drops. I had neither of these problems before the work was done. SO...

1) what are some things to check for as far as this lost horse power?
2) what are some things to check for as far as the idle dropping when turning the steering wheel?

This is a dodge ram 2007 2500 HEMI which had no problems before this all was done.

 

Sounds like when the transmission was flushed/serviced the filters (there are 3) weren't "seated" just right causing your stalling issues.

 

Thats what fixed the problem with the car shutting off when stopping. A different mechanic found that pepboys had left the trans filter loose, and there was very little trans fluid in the car. So little that there was none on the dip stick. Since it was finally taken care of, I've noticed a loss in horsepower and that idling issue when turning the steering wheel. Truck ran beautifully before serviced by pepboys. Just doesn't feel like the same truck anymore.

 

Idle drop when turning and loss of hp would point to the power steering pump starting to go out.

 

It's a fairly new car. I don't know much about cars in general under the hood. Does a power steering pump not last very long or was it maybe damaged while the goons worked on my car?

 

quite possibly pep boys messed up a lot more than you may think. They do some horrible work, just ask HammerZ71, he'll let you know.

It's possible that the power steering pump is going bad... but I still have my original one, 200,000 miles and going pretty strong. They may have messed up reinstalling the throttle body, or pinched some wiring on the backside of the engine. There's a throttle body cleaning thread in the FAQ section, check it out and if you feel comfortable check it out on your truck yourself to make sure it looks good.

 

They didnt change out the power steering fluid did they? If so they might not have used ATF+4 and used regular PS fluid. If its hard to turn the steering wheel while stopped then more than likely its the pump, if the wheel turns easily then there could be something beyond the pump causing resistance making the pump work harder.

 

Keep in mind also there is a power steering pressure sensor on the pressure line that when the wheel are turned is supposed to bump up the RPMs by a few so the engine doesnt bog down from the strain the PS pump put on the engine

 

I've had some people try and tell me that the idle dropping is normal but Im almost sure this wasn't happening before I had it serviced... Gosh I'm afraid to take it to any mechanic and at this time, it's a bit overwhelming to start studying up on this. I would like to though. The steering wheel isn't hard to turn either.

Oh and I forgot to mention, they did do a power steering flush. Here is exactly what it says:

Power steering flush pkg
power steering flush lbr
gunk 32oz ps fluid
16oz/32oz steering flush.

This is making me frustrated all over again because I know something is wrong.

It doesn't say what fluid was used though for the power steering. I do sorta hear a slight "whining" noise when turning the steering wheel. I am going to post a video tomorrow or the day after for you fine people to take a look at.

 

It looks as though they might have used "gunk" brand power steering fluid to refill the system. Call them up and find out for sure. If that's the case, I'd bring the truck back and make them flush it out again and refill with ATF4 tranny fluid - that's what the power steering system uses. Don't let them charge you either, and then stop going to pep boys.